English

Characterisation of the eclipsing post-common-envelope binary TIC 60040774

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2022-08-08 v1 Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Abstract

Binaries with a white dwarf primary and a main sequence secondary can be used to test our understanding of both single and binary star evolution. A small fraction of such systems experienced a common-envelope phase from which they emerged with a relatively short orbital period. Here, we present the characterisation of an eclipsing post-common-envelope binary of this kind, TIC 60040774, based on the light curve provided by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), multi-band photometry collated from the virtual observatory, and spectroscopic data obtained the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). With an orbital period of 0.404807±0.0001490.404807\pm0.000149 days, this system consists of a young white dwarf paired with an M6.5 dwarf companion. We estimate the masses of the primary and secondary to be 0.598±0.0290.598\pm0.029 M_{\odot} and 0.107±0.0200.107\pm0.020 M_{\odot}, while the effective temperatures are 14050±36014050\pm360 K and 2759±502759\pm50 K, respectively. The eclipse ingress and egress profile is shallower than expected from a simple geometric model such that more precise high-cadence photometry is required to understand the nature of this system. Given the similarity of TIC 60040774 to systems like GK Vir and NN Ser, it will be worth tracking its eclipse times to check for the presence of one or more circumbinary planets.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2208.02986,
  title  = {Characterisation of the eclipsing post-common-envelope binary TIC 60040774},
  author = {R. Priyatikanto and C. Knigge and S. Scaringi and J. Brink and D. A. H. Buckley},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.02986},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

R2 v1 2026-06-25T01:29:54.988Z